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Want to sell a portion of your farm? Don’t count your chickens before you have consent

“With the continuing drought I can no longer afford to run my entire farming operation and would like to sell off a portion of my farm. However, as I understand it I may not subdivide my land. What is the legal position, and is there any manner in which I can do this?”

Subdividing agricultural land is a time-consuming, expensive and often challenging exercise, frequently resulting in no success. This can be ascribed to the provisions of the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act of 1970 (“the Act”) which expressly prohibits the subdivision of agricultural land, to avoid such land being divided into uneconomic smaller portions. The Act determines that agricultural land may only be subdivided should the Minister of Agriculture (“the Minister”) consent thereto, with applications for consent being costly, taking two to three years to be processed, and often being unsuccessful. The Act also provides that “no portion of agricultural land shall be sold or advertised for sale” unless the Minister has already in writing consented to the subdivision of the land into portions.

Take it with, or leave behind? The complexity of lease improvements

“We’ve been renting a house for a few years. My wife and I had made several improvements to the house and garden. Now I’m being transferred and we have to move, but am wondering what’s to happen with all the improvements to the rental property. May we take it with us or does the landlord need to compensate us for it?”

This is a complex question that doesn’t necessarily have a short answer. The first step is to study the rental agreement to determine if it specifically states what the respective rights and duties of the parties are when it comes to lease improvements. Parties can decide at the time of conclusion of contract how they’d like to handle the issue of improvements, the type of permissions the landlord must give, whether the tenant may remove the improvements, which improvements may be removed, what the position is in case of damage to the property during said removal, and whether compensation is payable where improvements cannot or may not be removed.

Plans Unveiled for Unbelievable Skyscraper That Hangs From Orbiting Asteroid

Guess what? A New York architecture firm has unveiled its plans for an incredible skyscraper that hangs from an orbiting asteroid.

The brains behind this terrific skyscraper are Clouds Architecture Office, which is also the brains behind the proposals for a Mars house and a cloud city.

The out-of-this-world building would be so big that the daylight at the top would be 45 minutes extra than at the bottom.

The firm said, “While there may be a benefit to having 45 extra minutes of daylight at an elevation of 32,000 meters, the near vacuum and -40C temperature would prevent people from going outside without a protective suit.”

A Robot Can 3D-Print This Autonomous Mobile House in Just 8 Hours

“A new Ukrainian homebuilding startup called PassivDom uses a 3D printing robot that can print parts for tiny houses. The machine can print the walls, roof, and floor of PassivDom’s 380-square-foot model in about eight hours. The windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical systems are then added by a human worker.”

Building a house is a very time consuming, tedious, and expensive job. To make this job easier, a Ukranian startup called PassivDom has developed a 3D-printing robot that can build a smart house in just eight hours.

Whether you want to live in the mountains, the forest, or by the sea, this sweet little house allows you to live a sustainable lifestyle.

Designer Maria Sorokina, said, “We should have opportunities to live in nature away from civilization, but have comfortable conditions of a traditional house. This technology can allow us to live in the woods, on mountains, or on the shore - far away from people and infrastructure.”

Green Building Council of South Africa announces 250th green building certification in Africa

As it enters its 10th year in operation, The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) has reached the remarkable milestone of 250 green building certifications in Africa.

Streetlight Schools’ Jeppe Park Primary achieved a 4 Star Green Star SA Interiors v1 certification earlier this month, marking this the 250th certification on African soil. It also happened to be the first school to achieve a Green Star rating in Africa.

These 250 certifications will go a long way towards the reduction of carbon emissions, as well as water and energy savings. A total of just under 3.8 million square metres, these green buildings will save an approximate 450 million kilograms of CO2 per year; 380 million kilowatt hours of energy per annum; and 350 million litres of drinking water annually.

Put into perspective, these buildings are roughly the size of 540 rugby fields and their sustainability credentials save enough energy to power an equivalent of approximately 26 000 households for an entire year every year and provide the daily drinking water needs every year for just under 500 000 people, while their carbon emissions savings are the equivalent of taking 113 000 cars off the road every year.

Acquisition of self storage portfolio in KwaZulu Natal and cautionary

JSE listed self storage REIT, Stor-Age, the only self storage property group listed on any emerging market exchange worldwide, today announced its intention to acquire the attractive Durban based StorTown portfolio of self storage assets from the DanCor Properties group.

The portfolio comprises four well tenanted and geographically attractive properties located in Brackenhill, Durban CBD and Durban North.

Stor-Age's footprint will grow to five high quality stores in Durban offering more than 27 000m² GLA. CEO Gavin Lucas says: “We are excited about this acquisition. It aligns with our strategy of targeting quality peers in a fragmented market, with a focus on the four major metropoles in South Africa on a complementary quality level to our existing portfolio."

Going forward the properties will be rebranded and included into Stor-Age’s operational platform, allowing for the benefit of economies of scale in the greater Durban market. The acquisition will increase Stor-Age’s overall portfolio from 31 to 35 properties and boost total GLA by more than 9% to approximately 255 000m².

Billion Group opens R130m, four-star Mthatha hotel

South African property development company, Billion Group – known for its development of major malls – on Wednesday evening celebrated its inroads into hotel development with the opening of
the four-star, R130-million Mayfair Hotel in Mthatha, adjacent to the company’s R1.4-billion BT Ngebs City regional mall.

Billion Group founder Sisa Ngebulana, who grew up in Corana just outside Mthatha, was on hand for the gala opening and ribbon-cutting. Business leaders and dignitaries attending the opening – including the Eastern Cape Premier Phumulo Masualle and SA Tourism CEO Sisa Ntshona – saw the 96-room hotel at full capacity for the event.

Addressing a packed auditorium, Ngebulana said his vision for the hotel had been simple.

“Before Mayfair Hotel, the hotels here were the same ones doing business when I left Mthatha some 30 years ago,” he said.
“My aim with Mayfair Hotel was to create affordable luxury – a four-star grading with the look and feel of a five-star establishment.”

Introducing the Chameleon Shopping Centre and monitoring system also finds trends driving positive growth in Malls

Welcome to the age of the chameleon shopping centre. It’s one of the themes in the current retail environment, according to indicators emerging from research covering the assets of top South African property funds.

“Shopping centres and retailers, now more than ever, need to be the perfect host in attending to their customers’ every need. Ease, pleasure and warmth should govern all actions. The resultant need for predictive convenience is critical when designing the full centre concept and experience.

Unprecedented demand for apartments in New Coral Point development in Sibaya precinct

Situated towards Umdloti on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, the new Sibaya precinct has rapidly become entrenched as the region’s property ‘hotspot’ – a monniker it is likely to hold for at least the next 10 to 15 years.

Prime residential nodes are already rising from the ground in this secured precinct with well-run retail and office components - all enjoying coastal forest and elevated sea views.

Within Sibaya, the new Signature Estate has set the benchmark for luxury property and is expected to become the crème-de-la-crème of coastal estate living in the province. The estate comprises only 45 exclusive stands in a prime residential security estate and 1 000 to 2 000sqm sites have sold through Pam Golding Properties for between R4.95 million and R10.5 million. Prices of completed homes are expected to start at around R15 million.

Two apartments complexes, Ocean Dunes and more recently, Pebble Beach, have also launched and sold out at between R30 000 and R40 000 per square metre, with construction also under way.